


Pick Up the Damn Phone

by Reading_with_Winchesters



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Adoption, Fluff, Lunch, M/M, Phone Calls, Suicide, it's cute I swear, phone, suicide note
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-11
Updated: 2016-10-11
Packaged: 2018-08-21 19:12:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8257229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reading_with_Winchesters/pseuds/Reading_with_Winchesters
Summary: Arthur calls Merlin at work. Funny, that never happens. So, what does it mean?





	

The phone rang. That was funny, the phone never rang. Hesitantly, Merlin decided to pick up.

“Hello?”

“Hey.” Arthur’s voice answered. Merlin’s shoulders sank with relief. He thought he had been in trouble with the principal or something equally dramatic.

“Hey!” Merlin grinned, “What’s up?”

The phone was silent for a second, then, “Nothing. I just... missed you.” Merlin could hear the blood rising to Arthur’s cheeks; he wasn’t one for blatant affection, so of course this would make him uncomfortable.

But it made Merlin ecstatic.

“I miss you too, dollophead. Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”

A pause at the other end, “Well... I am -”

“Does your dad - sorry, your boss know you’re making a personal call? I didn’t think lawyers were permitted to do that.”

“Merlin!” Arthur sounded annoyed, “I try to be nice one time and this is what I get in return. This is why I don’t love you.”

“You do too!”

“Do not!”

“Do too!”

“Do not!”

“Do too!”

“Alright, yes I do.” Arthur conceded, the sound of his smile drifting through the phone.

“That’s why I love you, too. Now get back to work, clotpole”

“You’re one to talk, idiot.”

And with that, they both hung up.

~

An hour later, the phone rang again. Merlin picked up without hesitation, “Hello?”

“Hey.” It was Arthur again, sounding uncharacteristically shy.

“Hey!” Merlin replied. He was happy to hear Arthur’s beautiful voice again, even if it was a little too quiet. However, he was more than a little confused: Arthur rarely ever called anyone, let alone one person twice within the hour. Even if that person was Merlin, his husband.

“Hey, I just, um, sorry to bother you.”

“You’re not bothering me, you clotpole. I love hearing from you.”

“Really?” Arthur sounded happier in that one word than he had that entire morning.

“Of course! Now, what did you want to ask me?”

“Right,” Merlin could practically see the smile splitting Arthur’s face from ear to ear. It had been too long since he had last seen that smile. “Well, I was wondering if you wanted to go out to lunch? Maybe get Chinese? Or pizza? It really doesn’t matter to me.”

Merlin was downright shocked, there was no way for him to deny that. The last time they had gone out to lunch had been before Arthur got his job as a lawyer, almost two years ago. And even then it had been a posh restaurant of Arthur’s choosing. Him letting Merlin choose where to eat was practically unheard of.

“That sounds brilliant. How about we go to that Italian place right next to your office? I can be there in,” He glanced up at the clock, “twenty minutes? My lunch break starts in five, and I don’t have recess duty. I’ll be there by 12:30, if that’s what you want.”

“That’s exactly what I want. Meet you there.”

“Bye, love you, Arthur.”

“Bye... love you too.”

~

Two hours and an amazing cheese pizza later, Merlin’s phone rang once more. He didn’t even bother to say hello.

“Arthur, you are going to get fired if you keep this up. Well, maybe then you could join a company that actually allows you to call people whenever you want.”

“I’m too valuable to get fired and you know it.”

“You really want to test Uther?”

“Fuck yes!” Arthur said with a laugh, “It’s high time someone did.”

Now Merlin was worried. Arthur had never spoken ill of his tyrannical father before. The only reason Merlin knew about how Uther treated his son was because his friend Gwaine worked there too, and he was very open about his feelings for Uther.

“Arthur, are you alright?”

“Never been better. I feel... I feel good Merlin. Talking to you makes me feel good. It took me far too long to realize that, didn’t it? Don’t answer that. I just want to say, I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For the times that I am a complete and utter arse-”

“Like when you interrupt my very important work?”

“Merlin, I know for a fact that right now is naptime for your class, so shut up.” Damn, he was more observant than Merlin gave him credit for.

“Yeah, well, the times you’re an ass just makes me more sure that you’re the right person for me. Love’s not supposed to be easy, you know.”

“Well, thanks anyway. Have fun teaching two year-olds maths.”

“They are five and six years old and you know it!” Merlin whispered vehemently, so as to not wake any of his charges, “You go have fun putting someone in jail. I love you.”

“I love you, too.” That was the most sincerely Arthur had ever and would ever say those three words.

~

There was but one hour left until Merlin could go home when he picked up his phone and called Arthur.

“Pendragon Legal Form. Arthur Pendragon speaking, how may I help you?” Arthur’s voice was crisp, clear, and very professional

Merlin smothered a giggle before putting on the worst Irish accent he could, channeling all of the awe and excitement he could muster, and said, “Wow! Mr. Pendragon! I’m talkin’ to the head o’ the firm? Wait til I tell me mum!”

“No, sir, I am the son of -” Arthur paused suddenly, “Hang on, Merlin?”

“Arthur.” Merlin mocked, feeling nothing but pride at the stunned silence and heavy breathing on Arthur’s end of the line.

“Merlin, bedroom voice is unfair and you know it.” If he had been there with him, Merlin knew he would have stuck his tongue out and pouted as he spoke.

“Yeah, well, you’ve called me a bunch today, I figured I should return the favor.

“...And?”

“...And I miss you. I love talking to you, you now that.”

“Yeah, I do. I love hearing your voice too.”

There was a pause then. A beautiful pause that can only exist between the utmost of soulmates; one as comfortable as if fate herself was there to make the moment perfect. As much as they loved talking to and listening to each other, they loved these moments the same. Neither wanted to break this divine moment.

After a time, Arthur was forced to interrupt, “I have to go. There’s another call on the line, a client.” He said sadly.

“Right.” Merlin was disoriented, but tried to pull himself together quickly, “ Alright. See you soon. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

~

It was an hour and a half later that Merlin finally found himself at home. He showered before entering the bedroom with the intent to take a long nap until his partner got home. His shirt was off and he was poised to fall onto the bed when a glint of white shone at him from the wastebasket in the corner.

Normally he would have thought nothing of this, but today had been odd, and it was a fancy, seemingly blank sheet of paper. Neither he nor Arthur owned paper like that. So he went to investigate, mourning the loss of imminent sleep.

Merlin barely processed the first shakily written sentence before the paper, and Merlin, sunk to the floor, shaking rather vigorously.

It was a suicide note. It was Arthur’s suicide note.

By the time Arthur got home, Merlin had made as good a dinner as he could manage, baked a cake - depending on your definition of a cake - and managed to make it look like he hadn’t been crying for over an hour straight.

“Hey, love -” Arthur stopped mid greeting at the sight in front of him: the table was set, candles were out, and a huge pot of spaghetti and meatballs was placed right in the center of the whole display.

“Mer... Merlin! I think someone broke in and made us dinner!” He yelled.

“You could at least try to be a little grateful, you prat.” There was a slight wince as Merlin delivered the insult, but Arthur barely noticed.

“Well, I must say it’s a welcome surprise. Rough day at the office.” Arthur tried to sound innocent and as unguilty as he possibly could. He failed rather spectacularly.

“Arthur... I know you weren’t at the office today.” Merlin’s voice was soft and sad.

Arthur’s heart skipped too many beats. Merlin couldn’t know his feelings. His... his weakness. “What - What on Earth are you talking about? You called me at the office this afternoon. In case you didn’t notice, I picked up. How dare you doub-”

Arthur’s ramble was cut off by Merlin’s quiet, “I found your note Arthur. I - I know everything now.” Tears welled up in Merlin’s azure eyes and Arthur started to cry too. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He wasn’t supposed to know. Merlin wasn’t supposed to know.

But it was too late for that. “I - I just.” Arthur started crying in earnest, “I just couldn’t take it anymore. Any of it! My father is on my back about everything. I can’t do anything right, I’m useless. Do you know how many times he’s threatened to fire me? And he never listens to me. I try to give advice and he just ignores me, I feel like a bloody brick wall what with how much influence I have. I’m just a massive fuck up, and I hate it.” Merlin’s tears were flowing freely now, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

“And I have to hide who I am from the world. I have to hide us from my father. I hate the person I become when I do that. I hate my work persona and how little we can do in public because of the press. I just... I just didn’t want to do it anymore.”

It was a moment before Merlin’s voice worked again and Merlin could say what he should have said much more often, “I love you. You are safe here, with me. You can be yourself with me. I love you, Arthur! Why don’t you believe it?” He almost screamed the last word; he was hysterical. He could not lose Arthur. What on Earth would he do without him?

“How do I know you’re not lying?” Arthur asked quietly. Merlin’s heart broke at the sincerity with which Arthur spoke.

“Why would I lie? Arthur, we’ve been married for almost a year. We’re adopting a child soon! Of course I love y-”

Arthur’s head shot up and he stopped crying, “Hang on. We’re adopting a child?”

Shit. It was supposed to be a surprise. Arthur’s birthday present was going to be the adoption papers.

“You mean that time we volunteered at the orphanage, you were just figuring out who we got along with?” Damn, Merlin really didn’t give Arthur enough credit when it came to his observational skills.

“Um... Yeah?”

“Why didn’t you just tell me?”

“Well it was going to be a surprise-”

“Merlin! This is brilliant! Blood hell you idiot, you should have told me!

Merlin smiled sadly, “If I had known it would’ve saved your life, I would have.”

Arthur’s smile went down a couple of notches, his shoulders dropped, and his body seemed to shrink in on itself. “I’m not dead, Merlin. We can drop it now.

“No we most certainly can not! You almost died, Arthur! You tried to kill yourself! And you expect me to just drop it?” Merlin was aghast, and his hands were gesticulating wildly. “How do I know you won’t try again?”

“I didn’t try.” Arthur’s voice was hoarse.

“What?”

“I didn’t try.” Arthur met Merlin’s eyes and seemed to gain some confidence. “My... um, well, let’s call it a test, was inviting you to lunch. If you had said no, I would have done it. You saved my life Merlin. It was all you.”

Merlin was utterly shocked. He knew Arthur loved him, but he had never realized how insecure Arthur was with that love. How Arthur’s heart pounded with anxiety whenever they weren’t together; how Arthur was always terrified of Merlin cheating, or just plain leaving; How Arthur wasn’t sure his feelings were returned.

And now Merlin was kissing Arthur deeply. His tongue exploring every familiar crevice and hill of Arthur’s mouth, taking pleasure in Arthur’s surprised moan and the hands scrabbling all over his back.

They broke apart for breath and Merlin took the chance, “See how much I love you?” Then he walked to the table, sat down, and helped himself to the spaghetti he had cooked.

“Bloody tease.” Arthur muttered, hitting the side of Merlin’s head affectionately as he sat down to eat.

“Hey, if we’re gonna do it like we normally do, then I need some bloody sustenance, prat.

“Whatever, idiot.”

“Clotpole.”

“Moron.”

“I love you, dollophead. Don’t ever scare me like that again.

“I love you too, Merlin. I promise not to do that again.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope y'all enjoyed! Leave me a comment or something to let me know how it was. Kudos are greatly appreciated! Thanks for reading!


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